Rob was appointed as CEO of Nearmap on October 2015, after having been a Non-Executive Director of nearmap (formerly ipernica) for almost 5 years.

He has established a unique track record as a successful Australian high technology entrepreneur in both Australia and Silicon Valley. He has twice founded and built businesses based on Australian technology, both times successfully entering overseas markets.

Rob is a trained engineer but has spent his career in marketing, business development and general management in Information Technology focusing on communications. Rob also spent ten years of his career as a venture capitalist cofounding Stone Ridge Ventures, and was previously an investment director for Foundation Capital. As a venture capitalist, Rob has extensive experience in identifying and helping grow companies with significant commercial potential, especially those addressing overseas markets.

In the 1980’s, Rob was the inventor and co-founder of QPSX Communications Pty Ltd. After founding the company, Rob provided the technical leadership and product strategy. Rob was instrumental in establishing QPSX as a worldwide standard for Metropolitan Area Networks and the company successfully sold products to Telecommunication Carriers in Australia, Europe, Asia and the US.

Dr Newman has been recognised with a number of awards including the Bicentennial BHP Pursuit of Excellence Award (Youth Category) and Western Australian Young Achiever of the Year 1987.

Professor Abbas Rajabifard is Chair of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management Academic Network, and Head of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, at the
University of Melbourne.

He is Director of the Centre for Spatial Data Infrastructures and Land Administration (CSDILA) and Past-President of Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI) Association and is an Executive Board member of this Association. He has spent his career researching, developing, applying and teaching spatial information management and strategies particularly for spatial data infrastructures to deliver benefits to both governments and wider society and is acknowledged as one of the pioneers in the concept of spatial enablement – using location to facilitate decision making.

Government, industry and start-ups come together to exploit drones and driverless vehicles and participate in the emerging global Smart Cities industry

Sydney, Australia – 7 March 2017 – With driverless vehicles and drones poised for mass adoption, the International Symposium on Digital Earth & Locate17 in Sydney in April provides a forum for government, industry and start-ups to collaborate and become players in the emerging global Smart Cities industry.

“Mobility as a Service is transforming our cities and the spatial industry and technology start-ups are key parts of that,” says Susan Harris, CEO of Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) Australia.

“We need to be ready in Australia. We are well placed to be part of the global Smart Cities technology industry, creating business opportunities and ensuring that our cities remain as liveable as they can be,” says Harris. “But technology is moving very quickly and early collaboration is vital.”

The capture and exchange of rich 2D and 3D spatial information will increasingly underpin transport networks and cities. Driverless vehicles, for example, will constantly survey road conditions – sharing information about potholes, ice and other hazards – so other driverless vehicles, and human drivers, can avoid them.

Even minor road damage like cracks will be captured and shared so authorities can schedule repairs and prevent further deterioration. Drones will also play an increasing role in the capture of 3D data, and later as a new layer of autonomous transport.

“How does that spatial information get captured, managed and shared back out in ways that are reliable, safe, and commercially viable?” says Harris. “Australia is strong in both positioning technologies and big data, but we need to develop further skills and industry collaboration, including information sharing arrangements.”

With a program featuring more than 130 international and Australian speakers, Digital Earth & Locate17 provides a unique opportunity to understand digital transformation practices from around the world, and to develop and leverage geospatial data.

The two main conference days will be split into eight separate streams with topics including smart cities, virtual globes, intelligent transport, agriculture, engineering/utilities, smart sensors for natural resource management, water & climate, disaster & emergency management, and the geospatial economy.

The joint conference will be held 03-06 April 2017 at the new International Conference Centre Sydney. The Digital Earth & Locate17 Conference’s Market Day on Tuesday 4th April opens the exhibition to everyone and is an opportunity for private, government and start-up organisations to come together and explore collaborative and business opportunities.

About the International Symposium on Digital Earth

The International Symposium on Digital Earth is a flagship event of the International Society for Digital Earth. Founded in Beijing in 2006, ISDE is a non-political, non-governmental and not-for-profit international organisation principally promoting academic exchange, science and technology innovation, education, and international collaboration towards Digital Earth.

ISDE also explores Digital Earth as an enabling technology to play key roles in economic and social sustainable development, environmental protection, disaster mitigation, natural resources conservation and improvement of living standards.

About Locate17

The Locate Conference (Locate17) is the national conference of the spatial and surveying industries of Australia and New Zealand. The event is an initiative of the Surveying & Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI), Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) and Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA).

Media Contact

Chris Bowes

Bowes Communications

+61 2 9387 2332

chris.bowes@bowespr.com

Share this:

Steve is the Executive Director of Land and Spatial Information (LSI) in the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM). The LSI division is responsible for spatial data, systems, services and infrastructure. Steve has chaired the Queensland Spatial Information Council (QSIC) since 2009, and represents the State Government on a number of spatial information expert panels, peak bodies, committees and boards.

Steve commenced his career with Land Victoria as a trainee. Steve went on to lead the Department’s Land Information Group for seven years. In 2003, he commenced with the Queensland Government as Chief Information Officer for the Department of Natural Resources and Water.

Steve holds a Bachelor of Applied Science from RMIT University and a Research Master of Surveying Science (Information Technology) from The University of Melbourne. Steve is currently an Adjunct Professor with the Institute for Future Environments at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

Steven was awarded the Public Service Medal for services to land and spatial information in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

His expertise is in the convergence of the fields of urban planning and Geographical Information Sciences (GIS). For the last 20 years he has been undertaking research and development in the use of GIS and mapping technologies for creating what if? land-use change scenarios at the land parcel level across municipalities and cities. His recent interests also spans into applications, development and critique of geographical visualisation tools including City Dashboards.

Share this:

CEO, Intelligent Transport Systems Australia

With over 20 years’ experience across transport and business Susan is eager to harness the benefits that technology can deliver to business and the Australian community.

Through the global network of ITS Associations and participating as a member of the Board of the ITS World Congress, Susan has strong linkages with the international ITS community, ensuring Australian advances can be shared overseas while also keeping abreast of international developments in this rapidly evolving field.

Other affiliations include: Convenor of the Austroads Connected and Automated Vehicle Industry Reference Group and as a member of the Steering Committee for this activity; member of the National Transport Commission Industry Advisory Group, Member of the national Transport Commission Industry Advisory Group, Member of Monash University Institute of Transport Studies Industry Advisory Board and member of the Space Cross Sectoral Interest Group, established under the Trusted information Sharing Network for Critical Infrastructure Resilience.

Susan has built a career in consulting and in industry to look at collaborative solutions involving government, industry and academia. This industry experience is combined with professional qualifications including a Bachelor degree majoring in Environmental Management and an MBA from Melbourne Business School.

Share this:

Paul Lapstun is the Chief Technology Officer for Nearmap. He provides strategic leadership of Nearmap’s continuing program of technology innovation, with particular focus on computer vision and photogrammetry software and aerial camera systems.

Paul has over two decades experience conceiving, developing and commercialising imaging technologies in Australia, the US and UK, and holds more than 1200 US patents.

Share this:

As 2016 comes to a close, we are counting down the weeks until the extended geo community comes together on 3 to 6 April 2017 at ISDE10 & Locate17. Major sponsors are confirmed and the program is set for release in late December.

Sponsorship opportunities are still available, as well as space on the exhibition floor to showcase your products and come face to face with spatial industry professionals and end-users.

For information on becoming a conference partner, you can view the sponsorship and exhibition prospectus here. Or, contact Jon Tkach at jon@intermedia.com.au or on 02 8586 6128 for more information. Please note the office will close on 22 December, and will reopen on 5 January 2017.

Share this:

Narelle Underwood is a graduate of the University of New South Wales, where she was recognised for her brilliance by winning the University Medal. Narelle has since been employed by Roads and Maritime Services where she completed a graduate program and became a registered surveyor before quickly excelling into senior roles such as Southern Region Survey Manager and Acting Principal Surveyor. In October 2016 Narelle Underwood was appointed as Surveyor General of New South Wales, a major role within the state government responsible for leadership in surveying, mapping and geographic information. The appointment makes Underwood both the first woman to hold the role across all Australian states, and the youngest in the state in 200 years.

Share this:

As Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer of DigitalGlobe, Dr. Scott oversees the development of space systems, R&D, and DigitalGlobe’s Platform and Services Business Units.

Dr. Scott founded DigitalGlobe in 1992 as WorldView Imaging Corporation, which was the first company to receive a high resolution commercial remote sensing license from the U.S. Government (in 1993), under the 1992 Land Remote Sensing Policy Act. WorldView became EarthWatch Incorporated in 1995. Dr. Scott managed the development of all of the company’s commercial remote sensing satellites. He secured the first-ever export license for launch of U.S.-manufactured imaging spacecraft on Russian launch vehicles (Start-1 and Cosmos). The company became DigitalGlobe in 2001, and with the launch of the QuickBird-2 satellite that year, offered the world’s highest resolution commercial satellite imagery. Today, DigitalGlobe operates a 5-satellite imaging constellation with the best revisit and greatest capacity in the industry.

From 1986 through 1992, Dr. Scott was with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). He began as Project Leader for Computer Aided Design Tools for the Laser Pantography Program, developing tools to aid in the design of wafer scale integrated circuits manufactured. In 1987, he joined a small team developing a concept for a highly distributed constellation of space based interceptors for the Strategic Defense Initiative, known as “Brilliant Pebbles.” In late 1987, Dr. Scott became Program Leader for this effort, responsible for creating a series of hardware prototypes and conducting flight experiments. During 1989, Dr. Scott led the program successfully through over 20 reviews of technical feasibility, system performance, military operability, and estimated cost, resulting in the adoption of Brilliant Pebbles for SDIO’s space segment in 1990. In late 1991, Dr. Scott was Assistant Associate Director of the Physics Department and was responsible for development of new space-related programs and identification of promising technologies.

Prior to joining LLNL, Dr. Scott founded and served as president of Scott Consulting, a UNIX systems and applications consulting firm. He developed Unix networking subsystems, and a pioneering email system that used public key encryption for message protection.

Dr. Scott holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Mathematics, magna cum laude, from Harvard College and a Doctorate and Master of Science in Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He was a visiting student for a year at Edinburgh University in Scotland.

Dr. Scott was named Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2004 for the Rocky Mountain Region in the Emerging Technology category.

He previously served on the National Research Council’s Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space (CESAS) and is currently member of the board of directors of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC).

Share this:

Managing Director, Spatial Vision

Glenn is a recognised leader in the spatial information technology industry. He joined Spatial Vision in 2000 as CEO, and became Managing Director in 2004. With more than 30 years of experience, gained working both in Australia and internationally, Glenn has a wealth of knowledge regarding managing professional service organisations. Glenn’s career has spanned both government and corporate sectors. He has worked extensively with all levels of government. Glenn is strategic thinker and advocate of how spatial systems, data and analysis can be utilised to improve organisational decision-making and efficiency, and address some of our most pressing environmental, economic and resource issues. Glenn has been an active participant within the spatial information industry for many years. He is Chairman of Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA), Chairman of the Program Advisory Committee for the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences at RMIT, and Member of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering Advisory Committee at the University of Melbourne and an active promoter of the Spatial Information Industry within Australia. Glenn was a member of the Victorian Spatial Council for over four and half years, and the recipient of the Spatial Science Institute’s Victorian Spatial Professional of the Year Award in 2007.

Share this:

Senior External Relations Manager, GEO

Steven has spent his career in areas relating to geospatial data integration, notably around data quality control and open geospatial standards. His experience began in offshore satellite positioning and marine survey services in the 1990s and he has worked internationally since that time. More recent experience involves advising governments on location strategy and policy, undertaking work for the World Bank and the United Nations around global geospatial information management. Steven has spent many years in the commercial and not-for-profit sectors working to translate the technology gap between policy, implementation and the rate of change of geospatial technology.

He is a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Future Cities at the University of Strathclyde and a SASNet Fellow at the Urban Big Data Centre at the University of Glasgow, Scotland; Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Member of the Global Advisory Council for the Open Geospatial Consortium; Mentor for DisruptSpace; and Technical Editor for GIS Professional Magazine.

Share this:

CEO, Australia and New Zealand, CRCSI

Peter was appointed CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information (CRCSI) in June 2003. He is currently Co-Chair of the Australian Government’s Space Community of Interest; a Board Member of AuScope Limited; Foundation Chair of the Global Spatial Network; and a Board Member of the UNESCO International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage.

Peter commenced his career with the Forests Commission of Victoria, spent time in forest research and forest assessment, and managed remote sensing and GIS operations for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. As CEO of the Geospatial Science Initiative at RMIT University he helped create Spatial Vision Innovations Pty Ltd.

Peter has a Doctorate in Business Administration from RMIT University, a Masters of Applied Science from the University of New South Wales, a Degree in Forest Science from the University of Melbourne and is a Graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

There will be a special dedicated stream in the conference program for surveyors to discuss local challenges and opportunities in surveying. Professionals in the private sector, research, education communities are invited to make a submission and contribute to the ongoing discussion of how surveying technology can be used to improve the way we work, live and play.Due to a high level of interest, abstract submissions will now close on the 30 November 2016.

Share this:

Chief Environment Division, Geoscience Australia

Dr Stuart Minchin joined Geoscience Australia in January as the Chief of the new Environmental Geoscience Division. Dr Minchin has broad experience in water and environmental information sciences, particularly in the area of Earth observation and water resource management.

Dr Minchin has a Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours from the Water Studies Centre and Cooperative Research Centre for Freshwater Ecology at Monash University in Melbourne. He also successfully completed a PhD at the same university on ‘The role of extracellular enzymes in the bio-availability of nutrients in natural and waste waters’.

His career has been focused on the development and delivery of improved natural resource information and knowledge to stakeholders and the public. Dr Minchin has previously held executive positions such as Research Director (Environmental Observation and Landscape Science) with CSIRO Land and Water and Principal Scientist (Water Assessment and Research) with the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. These positions involved the direction of research priorities and the specification and management of large-scale natural resource observation and information management programs conducted by both the private and public sector.

Dr Minchin has a strong background in the management and computer modelling of water and environmental data and the online management, interoperability, and delivery of data, modelling and reporting tools for improved natural resource management. He conceived of and developed the Victorian Water Resources Data Warehouse, the first online database of water information in Australia, and later oversaw its expansion to include groundwater and community monitoring information. While at CSIRO, he led the development of a shared vision for a comprehensive Great Barrier Reef Information System (eReefs), which will incorporate in-situ and space-based monitoring and cutting-edge modelling to provide accounting and forecasting of water quality across the Great Barrier Reef region. He also led the delivery of a successful pilot project to showcase technology possibilities around the eReefs concept.

Greg leads the Secretariat for the United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), providing strategic policy advice and leadership in the coordination and implementation of UN-GGIM initiatives with Member States and related International Organizations involved in national, regional and global geospatial information management. He is also responsible for developing the substantive content for the Committee of Experts, High Level Forum’s, international technical capacity development workshops, and other international fora.

Share this:

Joint Research Center, EU

Alessandro Annoni is working in European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) since 1997. He is the Head of the Digital Earth and Reference Data Unit working to develop Information Infrastructures and advancing research on multidisciplinary-interoperability. His Unit ensure the Technical Coordination of the INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC (Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe) that lays down general rules for the establishment of a European Spatial Data Infrastructure.

Alessandro graduated in Physics from the University of Milan. Before joining the European Commission, he worked for several years in the private sector (1979-1996) and managed companies specialising in advanced studies in Remote Sensing, Earth Observation, Geomatics and Information Systems development.

Since 2006 Alessandro served as co-chair of the Architecture and Data Committee of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) and is now co-chairing the GEO Infrastructure Implementation Board. He is a visionary member of the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE) and has been awarded the 2013 Ian McHarg Medal of the European Geosciences Union reserved for distinguished research in Information Technology applied to Earth and space sciences.

Share this:

President, ISDE

GUO Huadong is a Professor of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth (RADI), an Academician of CAS, a Foreign Member of Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), and a Fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He presently serves as President of the International Society for Digital Earth (ISDE), Director of the International Center on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST) under the Auspices of UNESCO, Director of the CAS-TWAS Center of Excellence on Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), and Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Digital Earth. He specializes in remote sensing science, radar for Earth observation, and Digital Earth. Prof. Guo has published more than 400 papers and sixteen books, and is the principal awardee of sixteen domestic and international prizes.

The guest speaker for the annual sold-out event will be Dr Amanda Caples, Deputy Secretary of the Sector Development and Programs Division in the Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources. In this role, she is responsible for the development of priority industry sector strategies, and program development and management with a particular focus on employment programs and small business.

Prior to this appointment, Amanda has held various roles in the public sector including as the Victorian Government’s inaugural Director of Biotechnology. Amanda brings commercial skills to industry and innovation policy having had a successful career in the private sector in executive positions with international and local pharmaceutical companies, specialising in product development, technology transfer and business development (licensing and start-up ventures).

Amanda has a Bachelor of Science (Honours) and PhD from the University of Melbourne and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Amanda is a member of the Ivanhoe Grammar School Board of Governors and the Advisory Board for the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Integrative Brain Function.

Share this:

Brigadier Darren Naumann AM (Retd) will join Dr Walter Hesse, CEO of we-do-IT on Wednesday 13 April at 1:30 pm at the Locate16 Conference as a Keynote presenter.

Presenter BioIn April 2015, NSW Premier Mike Baird announced the appointment of retired Australian Army Brigadier Darren Naumann to lead the recovery of the storm-ravaged Hunter and Central Coast.

Darren chaired the Regional Recovery Committee with representatives from local councils and government agencies including the State Emergency Service, police, family and community services, health and transport.

Darren retired from the Army in early 2015 after 34 years of service. His final five years in Defence were as Director-General Capital Facilities and Infrastructure, managing the delivery of capital construction projects on Defence bases across Australia – a $7 billion portfolio of some 200 active projects.

Presentation OverviewAccording to the United Nations Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030) global disasters over the last ten years resulted in 700,000 casualties, 1.4 million injuries and 23 million homeless affecting more than 1.5 billion people and resulting in economic loss of US$1.3 trillion.

This presentation showcases agile and innovative Australian IMS research and development utilising advanced Project and Collaboration capability from Atlassian, a 2002 NSW start-up now valued on NASDAQ at US$4.6 billion, augmented with best-of-breed global Open Source QGIS capability.

The application of IMS goes beyond natural and man-made (terrorism) disaster management, but can be applied to Utility/Telco/Government business use cases where desk-bound incidents/issues with a spatial context require effective process flows including effective off-line (sometimes connected) Mobility scenarios, for example customer call centres or control rooms communicating with first responders, other agencies or the general public.

Share this:

The Conference organising committee is pleased to announce Helen Owens, Principal Advisor, Public Data Policy at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet will present a Keynote at the Locate16 Conference Thursday 14 April.

Helen joined the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet as the Principal Advisor for Public Data Policy on 22 October 2015. Prior to this appointment, she was the Assistant Secretary, Data Policy in the Department of Communications and previously the General Manager of the Office of Spatial Policy in the Department of Industry. Helen is currently responsible for providing whole of government policy advice on the Australian Government’s public data strategy, data infrastructure, data in the economy, and digital government.

Keynote Title Building a World Class Public Data Infrastructure

Keynote Overview

With the change in Federal leadership in September 2015, the Australian Government has reprioritised the public data and digital government policy agendas.

This has included transferring responsibility for:

‘national policy issues relating to the digital economy’ from the former Department of Communications to the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science;

‘whole of government service delivery policy’ from the former Department of Communications to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; and

‘public data policy and related matters’ from the Department of Finance and the former Department of Communications to the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The transfer of these policy areas into the Prime Minister’s Department signals the importance that the current Government places on public data and digital transformation. Ensuring Commonwealth entities have the capability to better use and reuse the data they collect or generate for policy development and public administration is critical. Building a world class pubic data infrastructure to deliver the policy objectives of the Government is the new focus of the Public Data Policy Branch.

This presentation will cover the key Commonwealth Government initiatives and announcements including:

the launch of the DataStart private-public partnership pilot program in November 2015;

the Public Sector Data Management Review which focussed on Australian Public Service practices and identified the current status and strategies for improving the use of and access to non-sensitive data;

the release of the Australian Government’s Public Data Policy Statement in December 2015 which formalises the Government’s commitment to open data and data-driven innovation;

the progress to deliver on ANZLIC’s Foundation Spatial Data Framework including the announcement of December 2015 to make the Geocoded National Address file (G-NAF) and Administrative Boundaries datasets openly available via data.gov.au from February 2016; and

the announcement to establish Data61 which will deliver world-leading data science applied research capability.

Angus Taylor was elected to Federal Parliament in September 2013 and was appointed to parliamentary committees including the Coalition’s Backbench Employment Committee, the Joint Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, the Joint Committee on Public Accounts and Audit and in late 2015 was appointed Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties.

After two years on the backbench, Angus was made an Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister with special responsibility for Cities and Digital Transformation.

Prior to entering parliament in 2013, Angus was a Director at Port Jackson Partners where he was a strategy and business advisor to a number of global and Australian companies and public sector organisations. He provided advice at a CEO and board level in the resources, agriculture, energy and infrastructure sectors. Prior to this, he was a partner at global consulting firm McKinsey & Co.

In his private capacity, Angus has founded or advised a number of small, fast growing start-up businesses.

The Locate Conference is now in its 3rd year as the leading surveying and spatial industries event and is hosted by the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI), Spatial Industries Business Association (SIBA) and Geospatial Information and Technology Association (GITA).

Share this:

The Locate16 Conference organising committee is pleased to announce Fabrice Marre, Geospatial Business Developer at AEROmetrex will present a Keynote on Thursday 14 April at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Keynote Bio

Fabrice Marre is a Geospatial Business Developer at AEROmetrex, an Australian aerial survey and photogrammetry company. He obtained a master’s degree in remote sensing and image processing from University Paul Sabatier, France. He has worked as a geospatial engineer in the public and private sector in Australia and overseas. He spent a 3 months in Borneo as a volunteer working on solution to fight illegal deforestation involving satellite imagery and UAV technologies. His professional interests include 3D photogrammetry, virtual reality and emerging geospatial technologies.

Keynote Overview

The convergence of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) with connected devices and 3D geospatial information can greatly improve the way we communicate complex information and make complex decisions to solve real-life problems. Interactive 3D GIS software are directly benefiting from advances driven by the gaming industry to provide users with immersive capabilities and new way to interact with geospatial data. At the same time, the gaming industry is increasingly using geospatial data to enhance gamers’ experience and expand their reach to the simulation, training and advertising market.

During this presentation, we will briefly introduce the concepts of VR and AR systems, interactive GIS and game engine tools. Based on examples, we will explore how it all started, what are the current applications of these immersive technologies and how future developments can shape the geospatial industry of tomorrow.

Share this:

The Locate Conference adds even more to its upcoming Locate16 Conference by introducing the Innovate@Locate Hackfest.

The Innovate@Locate Hackfest looks to bring together key datasets, which are essential to our prosperity, protection, sustainability and ability to grow. The event aims to demonstrate how technology is used and showcase the innovative ideas which comes from how developers interact, mash, design and develop applications to solve problems.

The Hackfest Showcase will run ahead of the Conference on Thursday, 17 March 2016 from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM (AEDT) with registration for the Innovate@Locate Hack opening on the 18th March 2016. Winners will be announced the Locate16 VIP Cocktail Event 11 April at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

A descriptive project page, listing your team members, details about your project, what data sets have been used and what competition categories (local, national and international) that you are going for. The project page must include your Project Description Data Story. This is a short description that describes how data has been reused and what your project is about. Submit an image that best captures your concept e.g a logo or Image.

Nominate your Prize Categories. When you register your Team Project on the Devpost you’ll have access to the competition prizes to compete for. Teams may register more than one entry; a new project page is required for each entry. You can nominate more that than one prize category for each for each project entry so long as the entry meets the multiple eligibility criteria. At a minimum please nominate one competition prize. We encourage projects to focus on a few prizes not all the prizes. The best way to maximise your chance to win is to use a data set from the official list and to check for any Prize category eligibility criteria such as a specific data sets.

Outcomes from the project itself (any code, graphics, mashups, applications, website URLs, photos of each stage to create your artistic representation etc) which must all be made available under an open source/content licence to be eligible for prizes. If judges are able to see and play with it that is useful, but this is a minor component of the judging. Teams can put the code/source on GitHub, Sourceforge or an equivalent repository system and must make the URL available on their team page for verification. For artistic works you may need to create a photo library or share a link to a Googledocs that contains evidence of the stages of your project.

Data reused – On your project page you are required to record any data used. This is especially required if the prize categories entered have a data usage requirement for eligibility.

A pre-recorded video (maximum three minutes) that demonstrates your hack in action for the judging panel. The preferred method is to use a screencast with a voice-over narration explaining your hack, why you created it, and what is being show in the video. Remember that the judging panel is viewing the videos in isolation and doesn’t necessarily have any context around your project. You may mix in other elements with the screencast, such as footage demonstrating the issues your hack addresses, interviews, live action material you’ve filmed, et cetera – but be aware that videos that don’t focus on showing off the hack itself will not be as valued as ones that do. You are encouraged to include your team name, event location, team members, and to talk about the data you have used and your data reuse story. Check out the hacker toolkit for some assistance and instruction on how to make a compelling video. Remember: Your video should not take more than a few hours out of your weekend if you keep it simple.

NOMINATE YOUR PRIZE CATEGORIESWhen you register your Team Project or Individual Project you’ll have access to the competition prizes to compete for (opens 18th March 2016). You may register more than one entry; a new project page is required for each entry. You can nominate more that than one prize category for each for each project entry so long as the entry meets the multiple eligibility criteria.

NOTE:Hexagon Geospatial main sponsors and require the use of Smart M.App to be used be considered for their prize and to go on to compete for the $100,000 USD prize they have on offer.

Her current research focuses on developing a SDI model for Spatially Enabled Planning by conducting a case study on the Telecommunications Industry in peri-urban areas of the City of Maputo – Mozambique’s capital city.

Ana Priscila is an Honorary Member of the Rotary Club of Maputo in Mozambique, from District 9400. She became a Rotarian in 2006, and over the last 3 years she was the Club Secretary and had been actively engaged in poverty alleviation projects for Mozambique’s unprivileged communities. Read more

Presentation OverviewBetween 1980 and 1997, the City of Maputo’s population increased by 30%. In 2007 the population increased by another 10%. The National Institute of Statistics in Mozambique has projected a further 14% increase by 2016, totaling 1,257,500 inhabitants out of the 26,424,000 country’s population. This is contributing to significant peri-urban population growth, considering the fact that the City of Maputo has only 347 km2. In addition, the telecommunications market has noticed considerable changes as in 2013 the national authority had registered more subscriptions in mobile networks than in fixed ones – 99.33% of the overall telephone subscribers were from mobile cellular networks.

Without a planning framework to accommodate this phenomenon in terms of new infrastructure, land use and population distribution, it becomes important to develop a spatial enabled society where data across multiple disciplines is available to all stakeholders for encouraging creativity and the development of new products and services.

By conducting a case study in the telecommunications industry enhancing the use of Geographic Information and GIS tools, a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) and roadmap are proposed, to bring together diverse sets of spatial data to support a more coordinated planning for peri-urban telecommunications infrastructure, in the context of the City of Maputo.

Share this:

Denise McKenzie will present at the Locate16 Conference within the PROSPER stream 14 April 1:40 pm at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Speaker BioDenise is the Executive Director, Communications and Outreach for the international open standards organisation the (OGC). In this role she is responsible for the planning and execution of marketing, communications and education programs to raise awareness and increase application of open geospatial and location standards by technology providers and users worldwide. Denise also represents the OGC at the United Nations Global Geographic Information Management (UNGGIM) committee.

Prior to her role with OGC, she worked for over 12 years with the Victorian Government (Australia) in areas of strategic policy, collaboration and innovation. She currently lives in the United Kingdom with her family, though at times her children have thought she lives on the space station.

Presentation Title: Sensors, Dark Data & the Internet for Babies

Presentation OverviewFor the past few years we have heard amazing predictions on the benefits the Internet of Things (IoT) will bring. But just how likely is this to happen?

In order to ever reach its potential the IoT community needs to have consensus on how it it is going to communicate information in the IoT. The obvious solution is standards. But it is not a simple one.

Increasingly there are articles appearing with the headlines such as “The Standards Wars of IoT”. These highlight the fierce competition in the marketplace as companies market their “all-encompassing” solutions for everyone’s IoT problems. This can be further confusing when you start reading about IoT in the context of Smart/Future Cities or Sustainable Development.

So what does this mean for our geospatial community? And what are the standards being developed for location data in the IoT that are going to help you?

OGC along with a number of it’s standards alliance partners are working to provide solutions and that will help to ensure location data can be communicated openly and easily in the new world of connected everything (even babies).

To secure your discounted Locate16 Conference delegate registration, ensure you have booked before the event by 29 February. For more information, click here.

Share this:

PhD Scholar, Alaa Ahmed from the University of South Australia will present his research entitled ‘Using GIS techniques and Quantitative Morphometric Analysis to Evaluate the Groundwater Resources in the Central Flinders Ranges, South Australia’ during the Locate16 Conference as part of Research@Locate.

The Conference will be held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre 12-14 April 2016.

Alaa has 10 years of strong professional and academic experience in the field of geology and hydrogeology. He holds a Bachelor degree in Geology from Cairo University in Egypt and a M.Sc. in Geology (Stratigraphical and Petrographical studies on the water bearing formations in Wadi Watir basin, South-eastern Portion of Sinai, Egypt).

With his familiarity with most of the Geological and Hydrogeological software, he has been able to conduct realistic analysis and detailed interpretations in his research.

He has worked for several years at the Egyptian Desert Research Center (the oldest scientific Research Center in Egypt) Studying Ph.D. in hydrogeology and geology (Hydrogeology of the fractured bedrocks in the Oratunga Areas, Flinders Ranges, South Australia).

Research Overview The quantitative analysis of a drainage system is essential in understanding the hydrological behaviour of the catchment. The present study was carried out in a drainage basin (Oratunga basin) in the Central Flinders Ranges, South Australia. GIS techniques were used to assess critical morphometric characteristics of the dendritic to sub-dendritic drainage pattern. The analysis has shown that the total number and length of stream segments decreases sequencively from first order to fifth order streams.

The bifurcation ratio (Rb) between different successive orders varies and the shape parameters indicate the elongated shape of the basin. The compilation of the different parameters reveals that the groundwater is mainly controlled by geomorphology, slope, geology, drainage density. Based on these factors groundwater potential of the basin was classified into good, moderate and low zones. The study reveals that quantitative analysis based on GIS techniques and available data is a useful tool for geo hydrological studies. Future research will focus on applying similar analyses in other locations in the Flinders Ranges and comparing with these results.

For a full list of the Research@Locate speakers and their presentations, please click here. To view the Locate16 Conference Program, in its entirety – please click here.

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) – U.S. satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe Inc created a joint venture on Sunday with two Saudi Arabian organizations to develop a network of small satellites that will eventually be able to revisit key areas of the globe 40 times a day.

Jeffrey Tarr, chief executive officer of DigitalGlobe, said the deal would leverage DigitalGlobe’s high-resolution satellites, ground infrastructure and processing power to help market and expand the accuracy of imagery to be collected by the new, small satellites.

“Small sat imagery alone is of limited valued, but when you combine it with the high-resolution, high-accuracy imagery that DigitalGlobe satellites uniquely offer, we’re able to unlock the potential of the technology,” Tarr told Reuters.

The deal is part of DigitalGlobe’s drive to expand its base of government and industry customers around the globe, but also gives Saudi Arabia a stake in the expanding market for remote sensing and satellite technology. Read More

Speaker BioMs Hillman is a passionate geographer, has taught across all levels of schooling from Primary to VCE and across many different schools in the independent and government sectors in both Metropolitan and rural Victoria.

Libby worked as an Education Consultant with Minerals Education Australia prior to taking up the role of executive Officer with the Geography Teachers’ Association of Victoria (GTAV). It is through Geography that students can make sense of the world and spatial technology provides the tools for a greater understanding of the world in which we live.

A foundation member of Destination Spatial, Libby has provided the link to education whereby students and teachers have been engaged in a variety of programs to increase their awareness of the opportunities in the spatial industry.

Abstract Overview

To Infinity and Beyond…… Promoting career opportunities in the spatial industry are integral in securing the future of the spatial professions. Destination Spatial Victorian Committee consists of members of spatial business, professional bodies, government, universities, education and a research centre.

The aim is the promotion of careers in the spatial industry to the general public, especially students. The Committee is successfully working at the core of career decision-making with Year 7- 12 students – especially those studying Geography.

In 2015 a plethora of initiatives have been implemented to increase awareness of the spatial industry. Programs have targeted primary and secondary students, gifted and talented students and students with a disability in areas including metropolitan Melbourne and rural and regional Victoria. Student participation in programs such as Newtech, the GPS In Schools Program, GeoSkills Event 2015 and the MapIT!Challenge will all work towards a sustainable future for the spatial industry. Each of these exciting and engaging programs has been a collaborative effort involving a variety of partners across industry, government departments and local government, the tertiary sector and education.

The key to success has been integrating and aligning the programs into the school curriculum.